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With a record year in 2016 marked by EUR 9.4bn of commitments, AFD is taking action in new fields, particularly in continental Africa

Rémy Rioux, Chief Executive Officer of AFD, presented today AFD’s results for 2016, from the perspective of its strategy for 2020.

At the request of the French President in 2015, AFD has significantly increased the volume of its financing, in line with the international community’s objectives (SDGs, Paris Climate Agreement), formed its strategic alliance with Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, and extended its scope of operations.

Rémy Rioux, its Chief Executive Officer, explains AFD’s strategy: “2016, the year of its 75th anniversary, was marked by the increase in AFD’s commitments, its strategic alliance with Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, and the strengthening of its partnerships with civil society, territorial authorities, the private sector, bilateral and multilateral development banks, European institutions and the major foundations. With EUR 9.4bn of commitments, AFD has set out on an ambitious growth path to support the major transitions in developing countries and the French overseas territories. With its new strategy, AFD will be playing a leading role in supporting the emergence of a common world.”

In 2015, the French President set for AFD the objective of increasing its activity by +60% by 2020 to some EUR 13bn of annual commitments. It set out on this growth path in 2016.

EUR 9.4bn of projects were financed by AFD: i.e. +13% in 1 year.

Africa, all Africa, is AFD’s priority, with some EUR 4bn of commitments in 2016, a +25% increase.

Between 2010 and 2016, EUR 22bn were committed in Africa.

In January 2017, at the Bamako Summit, the French President made an even more ambitious commitment for AFD: EUR 23bn will be committed for Africa over the next five years.

AFD has supported renewable energy development by committing EUR 600m in Africa in 2016. It plans to devote EUR 3bn to the sector by 2020.

AFD is operating in new countries and new sectors:

Argentina, Cuba, the Balkans: AFD will be extending its geographical area of operations towherever the support of a committed and solidarity-focused development bank is useful.

AFD’s new strategy opens up areas of action for the future, in sectors in which AFD did not previously operate or had limited activity: governance, cultural industries, higher education, innovation and digital technology, social business, the external action of local authorities, education in development and international solidarity.

AFD and CDC: A strategic alliance active in the field

The strategic alliance between the two institutions, signed on 6 December 2016, is being operationalized in the field. At international level, it is leading to common tools, such as the EUR 600m infrastructure investment fund, whose creation was recently announced by the two Chief Executive Officers in Burkina Faso. In France, it is bringing about a closer partnership with regional and local authorities and all development actors in territories.

AFD’s action in 2016

Action on the five continents:

50% of AFD’s financial commitments in foreign countries (some EUR 4bn in 2016, i.e. +25% in one year) are devoted to Africa, all Africa, a priority for AFD’s action, where 84% of the budget resources allocated by the State are focused. In its new strategy, AFD considers Africa as a whole: from Morocco to South Africa, from Senegal to Djibouti, with its regional dynamics, without separating the North of the Sahara from the South.

20% in Asia and the Pacific to finance low-carbon projects (EUR 1.3bn in 2016).

20% in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a focus on sustainable urban development (EUR 1.1bn in 2016).

10% in the Middle East to finance inclusive and resilient growth (EUR 741m in 2016).

In 2016, AFD also earmarked EUR 1.6bn of financing for the French overseas authorities.

The markers of AFD’s action: 6 x 50%
AFD, France’s development bank, which is solidarity-focused and committed to working for populations in the South and the French overseas territories, bases its action on 6 strong markers:

50% of its commitments abroad are in Africa

50% of its activity concerns French-speaking countries and territories

50% of its projects have positive impacts on the climate

50% of its projects contribute to reducing gender inequalities

50% of its beneficiaries are non-State actors (State-owned or private companies in Southern countries, local authorities, public institutions, NGOs, banks)

50% of its projects are cofinanced with other donors

AFD finances sustainable growth paths that contribute to the five major transitions which both developing and developed countries are undergoing: demographic and social transitions, territorial and ecological transition, energy transition, digital and technological transition, political and citizen-based transition.

Solutions which bring about positive impacts for populations

In 2016, AFD financed 657 development projects, which have, for example:

improved urban transport in New Caledonia;

managed tensions between host and refugee populations in Lebanon and Jordan;

built Burkina Faso’s energy autonomy;

Projects with measurable concrete impacts every year. Over the past 5 years, on average:

AFD is marking the preparation of its new strategy for Africa by organizing a symposium on 12 April at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, in partnership with France Médias Monde . High-level speakers will be discussing these issues during various roundtables.

Yet Africa is very often understood in a dual manner: North Africa on the one hand, and Sub-Saharan Africa on the other. This is, at any rate, the framework of interpretation adopted by donors, in their approach to relations with the continent. Such an interpretation presupposes that there is a homogeneity across Sub-Saharan Africa, which is neither proven, nor necessarily experienced or thought of in such a way by the continent’s populations and institutions.

What are the political, social, economic and cultural dynamics at work today, from Cape Town to Rabat, from Dar-es-Salaam to Nouakchott? What are the issues of a continentwide approach to Africa? What are the views today of philosophers, economists and entrepreneurs on this subject?

These are all questions which Agence Française de Développement wishes to debate during this symposium, at a time when it is developing its new strategy for Africa. High-level speakers will be discussing these subjects during various roundtables.

AFD has a dual financing and knowledge production mandate. This second aspect of its mandate aims to provide a response to practical questions from the field and bring new ideas to the international debate.